Help Care for Rescued Animals in Cambodia

Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre has been as busy as ever in the last few months. New arrivals at the Centre include long-tailed macaques, pythons, small-tooth palm civets, Sunda pangolins, wild pigs, lions, tigers, black-shouldered kites, and Eld’s deer.

The resident elephants are all doing well! Lomphat, the rescued infant elephant, is still being hand-fed milk but also occasionally eats plants on her own. She has been walking daily in the forest with her companion Chanam. Chhouk is enjoying life with his new shoe, which is changed twice daily, along with his sock which gets wet during hydrotherapy sessions. Our vets are still treating him daily for his chronic pain.

Recently, we have been seeing quite a few non-native species arrive at the Centre, such as lions and tigers. They have been donated by people who have been keeping them as pets but can no longer care for them. Additionally, in the last few months 18 animals have died, mostly infants who arrive in bad condition at the time of donation.

Every animal that arrives here is a reminder of why this work matters, and with your continued support, we look forward to many more rescues, recoveries, and releases in the months ahead.

You may remember that in December we raised funds to buy a new shoe for our disabled elephant, Chhouk. We are ecstatic to report that, thanks to your generosity, we are in the process of building and fitting Chhouk’s new shoe. We have been working in collaboration with the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO) and Exceed Worldwide, and Chhouk’s new shoe has just been delivered!

So far, the team from CSPO have visited Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre twice over the last month. On their first visit, they measured Chhouk’s leg and made the cast for the prosthesis. They returned two weeks later, at the end of December, to test if the prosthesis fits and make any necessary adjustments. This time they brought with them 10 local students, who are part of their training program, for this great learning opportunity.

At the second fitting, the team noticed that Chhouk’s gait had already changed in such a short period of time. Now that he is a bit older, his gait is changing quickly due to the discomfort he feels, which causes him to move around frequently. Due to this, the orignal measurements for the prosthesis were no longer viable, and team had to re-measure and make changes to the prosthetic shoe.

After these changes were made, the final fitting of the shoe took place on Saturday, 17^th January; we will be sure to provide you with updates on how this went, and pictures of Chhouk in his new shoe! We are so grateful for your support in making this happen, now Chhouk can live with greater comfort and ease.

P.S. we recently opened a new project on GlobalGiving, to support rangers in protecting their local forest and endangered wildlife from illegal hunting. We would be so grateful if you could help us launch this project with a donation.